News
When Professors Speak Out, Some Students Stay Quiet. Can Harvard Keep Everyone Talking?
News
Allston Residents, Elected Officials Ask for More Benefits from Harvard’s 10-Year Plan
News
Nobel Laureate Claudia Goldin Warns of Federal Data Misuse at IOP Forum
News
Woman Rescued from Freezing Charles River, Transported to Hospital with Serious Injuries
News
Harvard Researchers Develop New Technology to Map Neural Connections
To the editors:
Re "Anti-Social Behavior" by Jonathan Jacoby (Opinion, Nov. 4): What is the justification for an individual's existence? The idea of justification appears in various places in Jacoby's op-ed, with millionaires justifying their existence through "corpulent, guilt-ridden" donations to charities, and in his claim that one's "career choice is only valid if you can justify it" to a "Tibetan political prisoner."
Like all altruists, Jacoby claims that one's service to others--one's "socially responsible" career choice--is the justification for one's existence. But this just brings on the next question: Why? Why should I justify myself to anyone? As an individual, I am an end in myself. What is the justification of my existence? I am.
It is my mind that determines my goals and values, and I give my life meaning. I am my sanction, and my purpose is my own rational happiness. If I choose to live my life in service to others, so be it. But if I, the selfish man that I am, want to pursue a career that I actually enjoy, I will not seek anyone's permission, nor acknowledge any demands for justification. I will pursue my own selfish desire without regard to its "socially responsible" character.
If I were to let others dictate what I should hold as my values, goals and purpose and if I made my decisions based on their societal importance, I would have done the one thing both Jacoby and I find repugnant: I would have spent my life canceling myself out. JOSEPH ANDERSON '99 Nov. 4, 1998
The writer is president of the Objectivist Club.
Want to keep up with breaking news? Subscribe to our email newsletter.